CHOCOLATEMACHINEhttps://chocolatemachine.wordpress.com
BE THE COLOUR IN THIS BLACK AND WHITE WORLD // Journeys and reflections through time.Mon, 21 May 2018 09:49:05 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngCHOCOLATEMACHINEhttps://chocolatemachine.wordpress.com
Nothing to see here, just some words from my head.https://chocolatemachine.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/nothing-to-see-here-just-some-words-from-my-head/
https://chocolatemachine.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/nothing-to-see-here-just-some-words-from-my-head/#respondSat, 07 Apr 2018 14:54:26 +0000http://chocolatemachine.wordpress.com/?p=603Read More]]>screaming in silence. haunting smoke

A few days ago a couple of men walking beside me woke me from my trance like commuter state as I headed into the tube station on the way to work. What they said was profound. My ears caught them discussing one question, and it was just that one question I had heard before the sound of their voices disappeared – ‘What came first: language or thought?’

Ever since, this question has lingered in my mind playing itself over and over again like a broken record player. Because I don’t have an answer.

Surely we are born with thoughts and feelings which we have prior to developing language. However, at the same time I always think in words – my thoughts are silent words and sentences to myself in an internal dialogue. I use language to express and make sense of things in life in my mental forum. Yet babies, though not possessing any form of language, reach out to hold objects. They smile. They react to their environments and that certainly cannot be a thoughtless action.

4th century philosopher and theologian St Augustine considered language to be labels for already existing truths and ideas. On the other hand many centuries later, the German philosopher Willhelm von Humboldt stated that ‘The diversity of languages is not a diversity of signs and sounds but a diversity of views in the world’. Extrapolating from this idea further down the generations was Edward Sapir, a key figure in linguistics, who said, ‘No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached’. Sapir’s student Benjamin Whorf compared this concept to that of Einstein’s theory of physical relativity giving rise to the principle of linguistic relativity; also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

This certainly highlights the issue seen with the translation of scripts including religious scripts. Where a script has been written in a language relevant to and reflective of its parent culture, the reader must read it with respect to that and acknowledge this very fact in an attempt to comprehend its true meaning. We see every day how interpretations stray very far from the intended communication due to a disregard for the context in which a script was revealed in. And this is probably why those with logic are beginning to learn the language (including its culture) before interpreting the script. That language acts as a key to unlocking the true depth of wisdom hidden in the text.

Mind-bogglers.

But if we strip down to the basics and look at things simply (keep it simple stupid, always) then we can conclude the following. Or at least I conclude the following for now.

Language is a mode of thought.

Just as art is a mode of thought.

Just as movement is a mode of thought.

And language, art and movement are all expressions.

And expressions are vehicles of contemplation.

However, our exposure to these forms of expression are vital to shaping our thought capacities. That is why we see such a difference between people who read, write, paint, travel, create and people who do not. Exposing ourselves to more culture and knowledge allows us to stretch our minds thereby influencing the thoughts we manufacture in them. Of course we must not also forget that it is not about the sheer volume of knowledge we expose ourselves to but the quality. We must be careful in what we allow to determine our thoughts.

I do not think the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis answers the question as to which came first although I can certainly appreciate the points it conveys. It certainly makes sense that language enables us to envisage abstract concepts we would otherwise be unable to. Essentially, both thought and language encompass each other. And in an unknown and extraordinary way they develop simultaneously. They complete each other.

“O people, a great and blessed month has emerged upon you. In it there is a night that is superior to a thousand months. A month in which God has made its fast obligatory and its night vigil voluntary. Who strives to come close to God in it through doing a type of good deed, it is as though he performed an obligatory act outside of Ramaḍān. And whoever performs an obligatory act in it, it is as though he performed seventy obligatory acts outside of Ramaḍān.

It is the month of patience and the reward for patience is Paradise. It is a month of kindness to others and in it the provision of the believer is increased. Who breaks the fast of a believer in it, he is forgiven for his sins and he is freed from the hellfire, and to him is a similar reward without diminishing the reward [of the fasting person] in any way. God grants this reward to one who breaks the fast of another person by a bit of milk or a sip of water. And who feeds a fasting person to his fill will be granted drink from my pure spring after which one will never thirst until he enters Paradise.

It is a month whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is forgiveness, and whose end is salvation from the hellfire.”

I pray that we can all take advantage of this blessed month to truly reform ourselves and that Allah (swt) accepts is from us. Forgive me if I have ever wronged you and remember me and my family in your prayers please =)

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Allah made the early hours blessed for my Ummah.”

— Ahmed

I was once a morning person.

Every day at a time when the rest of the world were a few hours into their sleep, I would wake up and get up from bed within a few seconds. I would then make wudhu before returning to my room to pray the night prayer and read Qur’an. There would usually be a considerable amount of time before Fajr so you would find me doing my homework/revising/reading until Fajr. Sleep was nowhere near as exciting as these moments and a little nap before I had to get ready for school was more than sufficient.

I understood everything I studied and with time I started to build a relationship with the Qur’an where I would not be able to leave it. My concentration and focus were on point in everything that I did and I enjoyed an immense vigour and energy in learning that I have not felt since.

Regrettably, it is something I have lost gradually over the past few years and I crave its return more than anything. Therefore, having experienced the barakah of the mornings before, I can truly say that success does lie in the mornings, and I pray that Allah (swt) allows myself and others to seize this remarkable treasure of time from now onwards.

“Whoever prays the Fajr prayer, he or she is then under Allah’s protection. So beware, O son or daughter of Adam, that Allah does not call you to account for being absent from His protection for any reason.”

— Muslim

No wonder there is something very special about this time in the morning. To be under the guard of The One who created us and the very world we live in is indeed an extraordinary endowment. Imagine having the protection of the most powerful being that has ever existed for the rest of the day, every day. Is it not worth winning the battle of the bed for this?

Some of the greatest people in history seized these very hours, which is why they managed to achieve exponentially more than we are able to using the same 24 hours in each day. This portion of time is what allows us to train ourselves, prepare our minds, our hearts, our characters ready to take on the rest of the world and the rest of the day. It is a time were we reconnect with our mission and our purpose. We meet with God to begin our days and we are no longer lost like the man without a mission, wandering aimlessly throughout the day.

It is prime time. Contrary to popular belief it is a time where we possess our highest levels of focus, willpower and energy; we unlock these treasures only when we know how to seize this gift from Allah (swt), and what a gift it is. What better way is there to start our days than by meeting with God? What better way is there than by receiving His Protection? Fajr sets the tone for the day. The word itself means dawn in Arabic and is derived from the root word infijar, which means to ’burst forth’ denoting the sunlight erupting into the darkness of the night at that time of morning – thus illuminating the world, replacing darkness with light, clarity and vitality. Likewise, replacing the darkness in our hearts with light, clarity and vitality.

And you know what is really amazing about this gift?

It is offered to us everysingleday.

Every single day we are being given the chance to change our spiritual architecture for the better. We can start each day equipped with a psychological edge and incredible mental confidence that carries through for the next 24 hours. It’s like a kaleidoscope. This barakah from Allah (swt) is like a kaleidoscope, a chain reaction. Once we are able to overcome the struggle within ourselves in the morning, it then opens more and more doors to success. Once seizing the morning becomes hardwired into our minds, it then becomes easier to incorporate other facets of discipline into our lives.

And that is how Allah (swt) guides the believers. We take walk towards Him and He runs towards us. He gives and gives and gives.

The question is, will we take it?

We have awoken, and all of creation has awoken, for Allah, Lord of all the Worlds. Allah, I ask You for the best the day has to offer, victory, support, light, blessings and guidance; and I seek refuge in You from the evil in it, and the evil to come after it.

Except those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth, and recommend one another to patience.

— Qur’an Surah Al-‘Asr (103):1-3

Surah Al-‘Asr has a very powerful beginning. Allah (swt) is making an oath by which he commands us to reflect on the passage of time. Notice how this creates a sense of urgency. It is as if Allah (swt) is telling us to hurry towards something before we are no longer able to. ‘Asr itself is a word associated with urgency, different to other ‘times’ He has mentioned and sworn by in the Qur’an. And the urgency of this reference has been described as if we have ice that is melting away.

Man is always in loss. Not one of us can stop time as it goes on, unable to regain any time that we have lost – we are in loss to time. ‘Man’ has been translated from ‘insaan’ which comes from the root word ‘nisyaan’ literally meaning forgetfulness. Insaan categorises the entire human species so with this verse Allah (swt) is effectively describing a default state for any forgetful human. It signifies the fact that they are contained within such a loss, where their forgetfulness disables them from taking heed of reminders – as if they are drowning in loss.

But of course Allah (swt) is most merciful and kind and tells us exactly what to do to switch off this default state and escape the pool of loss.

Believe

Do righteous good deeds

Recommend one another to the truth

Recommend one another to patience

Do righteous good deeds. In this verse the adjective (i.e. righteous, good) has plural properties thus creating an abnormal adjective. The intentional use of this in Arabic in fact signifies ‘small plural’ hence describing deeds are more than 1 action but not plenty but in small numbers such as 3-10. So what does this mean for us? It demonstrates a focus on the deed itself rather than the number, and this should particularly resonate with us now when we have become people of numbers and measure. In a world where are trying to count everything and measure success by quantity, Allah (swt) tells us that actually, it is not about how much you can do as quickly as possible – but about how right a thing you can do, how much quality there is to your action or deed within our limited times.

We should not wait to become good people in order to do good deeds. But in order to become good people we must do good deeds. And these deeds need to be done in the correct manner with our full presence in them, no matter how small or few in number they are.

Recommend one another. It is only fitting for us to remind each other when the very nature of man is to forget. This patience is about finding consistency and helping each other to do so as well. A consistency where there remain no internal troughs or lows. A patience where even if circumstances are not optimal, that you push through with perseverance to continue doing good.

It is an important issue not only when we over-indulge in worldly delights but also when we become preoccupied in our worldly problems. When we encounter such phases in the courses of our lives we feel a real dip, a trough. These points are very uncomfortable for us as these preoccupations make us forget Allah (swt) and His creations, and we avoid dealing with the real problems of our disconnect with Allah (swt) and dwindling relationship with Him. We are thus reminded of the need for consistency independent of the ups and downs of dunya. With consistency and quality, we can push forward with patience towards true success. Rather than trying to work against time to seek worldly contentment, we need to struggle to resolve our deeper issues and relationship with Allah (swt) and become conscientious believers where not a day goes by but we used it productively to performs deeds of quality.

“Truly, Allah will admit those who believe and do righteous good deeds, to Gardens underneath with rivers flow (in Paradise), wherein they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls and their garments therein will be of silk.”

In the last couple of decades, the way we communicate with others and gather and share information has drastically changed in a way that no one in all probability would have expected. I can actually remember when I used to handwrite letters to my grandmother, thinking about my spelling, taking extra care that the stamps were stuck on securely before I posted them and then eagerly anticipate replies through the letterbox a few weeks later. I remember when I used to take my dad’s encyclopaedias and dictionaries off the shelf that weighed more than me when I had homework to do. I remember when a friend would come over to our house I would excitedly show them our latest holiday photos in our album – a physical album where we still had the negatives.

Now I can call my grandmother whenever I want over Viber who lives on the other side of the world. In fact, I can communicate with as many different people as I want regardless of location, time or how I choose to communicate i.e. photos/videos/messages. And for sure I do exactly that, so much so, that sometimes it becomes almost a mission to keep up with several different conversations all happening at once. I’ve developed a habit whereby I check social media feeds as I open my eyes in the morning, noticing news headlines and photos of friends’ breakfasts in a blur.

I can use Wikipedia/Google/journal databases and an array of other resources simultaneously to complete a dissertation in half the time I would have been able to before. With 50 tabs open on my web browser I can sift through endless heaps of information. I can open up a further tab and watch a tutorial on YouTube to help me with my work and perhaps have the video running in the background whilst I start up a chat on Skype with my friend who is helping for this dissertation.

People can see my holiday snaps one minute after me having taken the photo. I can share my holiday experiences live with not only people I know but the entire 6 billion strong world population. I can show them exactly where I am and share the geographical coordinates of my location. Talking location, I can use my phone to drive to the neighbouring city at the same time as sharing my photos of the journey along the way.

Is this not amazing? And in no way am I being sarcastic. I know I would not give up these 21st century benefits.

However, there is a real issue that is surfacing from our constant use of and reliance on the Internet. I can only agree with the statement that ‘the Internet is making us dumb’. Most of us at least. We spend so much time scrolling through newsfeeds and the like that our brains are becoming conditioned to scanning information. This is slowly teasing out our ability to focus on any one thing at a time. We almost have a compulsion to be doing as many things are we can simultaneously and it divides up and fragments our attention and memory. We feel restless when we are not spending time liking photos or watching YouTube videos – not for any particular reason or purpose, but just to kill time as we wait for a train on a platform for example. Our minds are constantly wandering, constantly distracted by the vast amount of meaningless information being bombarded in our faces on the internet. Sometimes we set out to do something with a purpose but the social media website will intelligently assess you and suggest a video of interest for you to watch or provide you with a link to buy something you were looking at just the other day.

To scan information is a useful quality to have at times but we are now acquiring it at too great an extent in expense of all other qualities such as problem solving, critical and deep thinking and other higher-order processes such as reflection and understanding concepts. By scanning and jumping between various forms of media we also alter the thresholds of intellectual stimulation within us, and we become unable to stop seeking out further pieces of mindless information to continue to stimulate ourselves. The same applies for distraction itself. To have purposeful breaks amidst deep thinking and problem-solving is a healthy habit, which if done correctly usually allows the individual to return to a problem with a clearer mind. However, being constantly distracted defeats the purpose and we no longer create any productive or useful output – essentially, we are doing absolutely nothing but are denying it to ourselves. And all of this becomes evident when we lose or phone or lose WiFi signal – suddenly the emptiness within us becomes manifest as the superficial stimuli we use to constantly keep our minds alive disappear for that short period of time.

Allah (swt) mentions a countless number of times in the Qur’an of the importance of thinking and continuously reminds us of ways to preserve this gift of human intellect.

‘Do they not think deeply about themselves…?’ Qur’an 30:8

‘…So relate the stories, perhaps they may reflect…’ Qur’an 7:176

The constant artificial stimulation of our minds can disrupt out perspectives and make us forget our true nature where we were designed to think deeply. We are encouraged to contemplate, ponder and reason about historical events and ‘stories’ from the real lives of real people who went through struggles not so dissimilar to our own. And lo and behold, this is usually where we find our best answers to our daily struggles. The very nature of our worship is a testament to the high value of preserving our concentration and memory. We are told to learn the Qur’an itself, which Allah (swt) has made easy for us to remember. We pray together but in silence with a focused manner. We are instructed to instil Ihsan – excellence – in everything we do. In Islam, there is no doing anything half-heartedly – we are encouraged and instructed to do good and benefit mankind with excellence and finish what we start. No mind-wandering but full focus so that we may work towards and achieve goals.

It certainly is not to say that the Internet is inherently a bad thing. Or that, as some members of older generations will say, we were much better off without it. No. When I pointed out some of the amazing things that can be done, they really are genius. Each era has had its own revolution whether it was wheels, medicines, electricity or the phone with each bringing their own challenges. In reality I don’t think anyone would really go backwards to a time before if they were given the option to. Success lies in us not losing our purpose and not losing the value of our intellectual abilities. It lies in us being able to nurture them, as God has advised us to, with whatever resources we have available without losing ourselves in the tools.

‘Verily! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, and the ships which sail through the sea with that which is of use to mankind, and the water (rain) which Allâh sends down from the sky and makes the earth alive therewith after its death, and the moving (living) creatures of all kinds that He has scattered therein, and in the veering of winds and clouds which are held between the sky and the earth, are indeed Ayât (proofs, evidences, signs, etc.) for people of understanding.’ Qur’an 2:164

These are only some of the significant signs and creations of Allah (swt) that will take us back to Him if we paid more attention. Investing mindfully in our thoughts will eliminate the manufactured need for superficial stimulation. Prioritising the people and the signs that are physically right in front of us over screen-based media and multiple browser windows is what will stimulate real human connection – something that is much more sustaining and fulfilling, and the beginning of the end to our compulsive ‘gap-filling’ behaviour.

“Western media outlets will likely frame the most recent perpetrator of what some speculate is an anti-Muslim crime in the same way they frame most anti-Muslim criminals – as crazed, misguided bigots who acted alone. If past coverage is any indication, there will likely be very little suggestion that the killer acted on the basis of an ideology or as part of any larger pattern or system.”

See article: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/02/chapel-hill-shooting-western-media-bigotry-150211083909613.html

How many of us really know ourselves? For sure we are either going to school or university, are working as lawyers or other professionals, we belong to certain cultures and geographical areas etc. And each one of these could define us. “I’m a doctor.” “I speak Spanish.”“I’m a housewife.” “I come from Nigeria.” But is that all we will afford ourselves to? I find that, and I speak for myself, that we run around in autopilot most of the time soullessly categorising ourselves into what are superficial and unyielding depictions. If for example one identifies themselves as a doctor then they simply belong to a group of people who supposedly have expert knowledge of the human body, medicines and are actively involved in helping to heal a person when these systems malfunction. The danger with this is falling into a prearranged role of some sort where we work like machines for the sake of working and lose all the dimensions of being human. We disregard the fact that there is much more to each and every one of us, much more that makes us different and worthy of being ourselves rather than having to belong to a societal category. Each day is no longer about personal development or following one’s internal goals but to wake up on time so as not to miss the ward round, read up enough to pass exams and come home in time to take the car to the garage before it closes. Each day becomes a blind routine filled up with seemingly important empty tasks and errands. So there really is no wonder that we fail to find the appropriate time and means for ourselves and internal goals let alone self discovery.

We are denying ourselves by degrading ourselves to a robotic rank. Every so often the human inside of us kicks in and we feel the need for a ‘break’ or ‘retreat’ to escape from the world we have created. We feel frustrated, annoyed and confused because we have lost sight of where our lives are heading because we’ve been on autopilot for so long, and the longer it goes on for the harder it is to escape; and we keep going round in vicious circles never really doing anything effective to cut the circuit despite convincing ourselves of many a ‘fresh starts’.

Allah says in the Qur’an, “And be not like those who forgot Allah and He caused them to forget their ownselves…”

— Qur’an, 59:19

Remembrance of our Creator and where we came from is essential and completely intertwined with how much ‘in touch’ we are with ourselves i.e. how much we are aware of the internal messages our own selves tell us and how much we value ourselves. Because we have been created for a specific purpose we are like the puzzle piece designed to fit exactly into a specific gap – that is the optimum. So when we are trying to fit into other gaps, our own selves tell us that something is not right through our emotions, such as explained above with regards to frustration/anger/sadness/feeling incomplete to direct us back to the equilibrium. But most of us ignore these and try fighting against them, never being able to fit into the right gap. So we perpetually push to put ourselves into places where we don’t really belong, and the reason we don’t reach the state of being comfortable with ourselves is due to the continuous messages we receive from inside us. By continuously ignoring the cues we fall into a complete denial and permanent state of internal unrest – we forget ourselves. And that really is the worst as it only leads to us spiralling downwards as we devalue ourselves and our purpose.

“We have indeed created man in the best of moulds.”

— Qur’an, 95:4

لَقَدۡ خَلَقۡنَا ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ فِىٓ أَحۡسَنِ تَقۡوِيمٍ۬

‘Ahsan’ comes from ‘husn’ which denotes beauty; both internal and external. ‘Taqweem’ signifies the assembly of multiple components together in perfect balance in order to stand upright and to perfectly design something to fit its purpose. This is how we have been created. This is the kind of mould we have been designed for. Subhanallah, what a remarkable honour it is to have bestowed upon us by the Creator of all the worls. So who are we to bring ourselves down to the lowly level of an aimless machine? This is what we forget. It is incredible how Allah (swt) points out to us the obvious reality which we deny so often that we are indeed made up of multiple components – mind, body, soul, whatever you want to call it – and that He has designed for these to work in perfect sync with each other. We cannot ignore one and accept the other, because then we do not accept the fact that we are human. This is what being human is. And this is why Islam addresses us as a whole. It is why the Qur’an and Hadith, as ‘religious’ texts, does not just instruct on the means of prayer but also on our education, personal hygiene, family matters, law and jurisprudence, health, food, agriculture etc. It addresses all components, which together make us human. Like a soul cannot exist without the body in this dunya, neither can the body exist without the soul. It just does not work. Islam considers the physical and the ethereal, and we realise this through the remembrance of God.

To find ourselves again, we need to freeze our autopilot programmes. This does not necessarily mean to stop everything we do, but rather to increase our awareness by flipping over our perspectives in many areas such as ‘work’. Consequently, this will allow ourselves to become more aware of life as it was designed to be and form our future actions to be purposeful so that we may regain passion in whatever we do.

“…Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah. For without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction.”